


The Three Musketeers (Plus Wade)

by Morgan Yu (MorganYu)



Category: JackSepticEye (YouTube RPF), LordMinion777 (YouTube RPF), Markiplier (YouTube RPF), Septiplier - Fandom, muyskerm (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate POVs, Drunken Confessions, Good Friends, Good times, M/M, PAX Prime, Prop Hunt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-18
Updated: 2015-10-29
Packaged: 2018-04-26 23:34:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5025037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MorganYu/pseuds/Morgan%20Yu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The four lovable YouTube personalities of Jack, Mark, Bob, and Wade reunite at PAX Prime and spend the longest amount of time they've ever spent together: two weeks. Mark experiences multiple unwanted thoughts about Jack at the most inappropriate of times and questions his sexuality, Bob's sanity reduces day by day, Jack struggles with a break-up over text and Wade is just... Wade.<br/>Rated 'Teen and Up' for Mark's sexual fantasies, Jack's language and Wade's stupidity, plus some rather steamy situations later on...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. PAX Prime

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome! This is my first ever Septiplier fanfic, so constructive criticism would be appreciated but not in vast and unforgiving quantities... I've found numerous Septiplier fanfics out there that focus solely on Jack's P.O.V and usually have Jack as the first person to figure out his feelings, so I decided (whether successfully or not to be determined) to switch things up a bit and offer multiple points of view from each of the boys. Enjoy!

So, PAX Prime. Here Mark Fischbach was once again, and as always, he was nothing but a bundle of nervous and excitable energy - although not one to usually get nervous, performing a panel in front of two-hundred or so fans was quite nerve-wracking, even if he did have his best friends right by his side. He had traveled far to get here, although probably too far, as the dark circles under his eyes looked like he was part of the undead preparing for a zombie apocalypse.  
Cursing inwardly at himself for his awful travel plans, he placed his hand on the counter for Starbucks and forced a smile at the blonde-haired and overly eager woman who was serving.

"Americano, please," he let out a loud yawn and ran a hand through his dark and untameable pink hair in the process. "Make it a double shot."

"Coming right up, sir," came the reply.

As the woman toddled off to do her job, Mark took the opportunity to look at the venue PAX had hired out for this year's convention. It wasn't small, but it wasn't big either - he had read up before he entered the building that there were only four available rooms that were big enough to hold panels in, the room he hired being the third. The center was filled with a heavy quiet, so much so that Mark almost felt like he couldn't breathe - he was used to noise, and a lot of it, so this was just plain _weird_. Of course, the attendants of the event hadn't turned up yet - the doors opened at 10am, and from squinting at the clock on the wall opposite him, it was only quarter past nine.

 _'The calm before the storm,'_ he thought. _'Speaking of the storm, I'm surprised none of the others are here yet. Especially Bob. The early bird is not catching the worm at this rate, apparently.'_

Turning around to retrieve the coffee cup behind him and handing the cash to the cashier, he started towards the entrance of the center, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of his idiot friends. He leaned against a wall facing the entrance so he could people-watch, feeling the warm sensation of the coffee flood his mouth and allowing the bitterness to engulf his taste-buds. He'd never been one for sugar in coffee, which he liked to think reflected his personality, but it probably didn't. Then again, _strong_ coffee was fit for a _strong_ man like himself.  
He thought he could recognize Felix Kjellberg in the distance loitering outside the toilets with Ken, but he couldn't be sure - yes, there was no mistaking Ken's beard, but the lumberjack appearance wasn't one exclusive to the cinnamon-toast YouTuber. The Felix lookalike crossed his arms as he listened to the Ken lookalike, only to hear his laugh echo off the walls of the center. The familiar intake of breath in-between each laugh indicated that the lookalike, was in fact, PewDiePie. Mark smiled wryly.

"Oh, Mark - there you are! You know, leaning against the wall with a Starbucks in your hand doesn't make you cool, right?"

Mark turned his head in time to see Bob walking over to him, his voice as patronizing and sarcastic as ever.

"Well jeez, hello to you too, Bob," Mark grinned. "Took you long enough. I thought you crashed or something on the way here - you're usually here earlier."

"You're lucky your hair is so bright, otherwise we might lose you today in here due to how small you are." Bob pushed up his glasses with one finger.

Mark pouted. "Shut up Bob, you're just jealous because you don't have fabulous pink hair."

Ignoring this comment, Bob glanced around. "It doesn't look like I've missed much anyway."

Mark took another swig of his coffee. "Question. Any word from Wade or-" he paused. "-Jack yet?"

Bob didn't notice Mark's unusual pause, or if he did he wasn't letting up on it. "Wade text me saying he'd be here in fifteen ten minutes ago, so I'm assuming he's almost here. As for _Jack_ , I'm not sure."

Mark raised an eyebrow at the emphasis Bob placed on Jack's name. Maybe he did notice the pause after all, but there's no way he could know about _that_... right?  
Mark hated to admit it, but in the past few months there had been certain... issues... surrounding his general thoughts and attitude towards the Irishman. He hadn't seen Jack since these feelings had started up, either, which is probably why he was so nervous. Suddenly the double-shots of caffeine didn't seem like such a good idea - his heart was racing like a car zooming down the highway, and all this at the mention of Jack's _name_? Boy, he needed to get a life.

Mark didn't notice Bob staring at him. "What?" he asked, unaware.

"Shut up and drink your coffee, you're zoning out before a panel and it's only half nine in the morning."

"Yes, mother." came Mark's reply.

Bob rolled his eyes and turned his attention towards the entrance, keeping an eye out for Wade. Mark diverted his eyes from his friend to where Felix and Ken once stood, only to notice that they were nowhere to be found. Nervously, his eyes darted back towards the entrance.

 _'Shit.'_ Mark's voice echoed around in his brain as his eyes came to rest upon Wade and a smaller, skinnier figure standing next to him with his hands in his pockets and his green hair ruffled. _'It's him.'_

The new arrivals walked over to Mark and Bob, only Mark couldn't keep his eyes off Jack. The way he walked made him seem so elegant, as if he were floating rather than walking. Mark's eyes traced over the Irishman's face and God, those eyes, those _blue_ eyes-

Mark stiffened in stature as he realized that the mere appearance of him made him want to grab his shirt by the front and pull him into him, pressing his lips against his as they fell over onto the floor-

"Hey guys, I'll introduce myself a bit more in a bit, but I _really_ need to go to the bathroom like, right now, before I explode."

And with that, Mark turned and walked the other way, heading towards the toilets stiffly as he gritted his teeth. He flung open the bathroom door with his muscular forearms and locked himself in a cubicle, only to find that things weren't exactly settled in his nether regions.

"Fuck..." he muttered under his breath.

He tried to settle his mind on something else - anything else. He'd read somewhere once before that if you had this problem, just think of the least attractive thing you can. He imagined the Grunt from Amnesia, which relieved him because after about two minutes it seemed to be working. Five minutes later he left the cubicle and strode over to the sink, in which he gazed at himself in the mirror in shock that he looked as tired as he did. The dark circles under his eyes seemed to define his whole face, as he realized that he must have shoved his coffee into Bob's chest before embarrassingly running off. Turning on the cold tap, he splashed his face with water, rubbing his eyes until his face felt numb. He then wiped the rest of the water away with his sleeve, before taking multiple deep breaths and exiting the bathroom.

Jack, Bob, and Wade were chattering among themselves, but when they saw Mark their expressions twisted into one of worry.

" _Dude_ , are you okay? You kind of had us scared there for a while." the Irishman looked at Mark, worry in his voice and in his sapphire eyes. Mark forgot how to breathe. Jack's voice sounded different than it did over Skype, it sounded deeper with a more refined accent, somehow.

"I'm fine Jack, don't worry about me - I'm just really tired."

"Rough night, huh? Man, I hate those nights. Make 'ya wanna smack someone 'round the face." That accent was so damn _sexy_ -

"Something like that," Mark replied, before his frown changed into a grin. "So, Jack, Wade - how have you two been?"

The four friends stood there chatting for a while, until it was time for PAX Prime to open its doors to the public, to which they went and sat backstage in their panel room for some peace and quiet. The panel continued ahead as normal, and by the end of it, everyone was shattered.

"So, Wade, where's this hotel of ours that you booked? You better not have fucked up, Wade. Dammit Wade, you better not have screwed up." Mark chuckled and everyone else joined in.

Wade grinned. "Actually, it's not that far from here - we should go now. Mark, is your car parked near here?"

Mark nodded. "Yeah, it's just out the back." he pulled his keys out of his pocket and threw them a short distance into the air before catching them with one hand. "Let's go."

The four left PAX Prime that day with smiles on their faces, and it was only the first day. So much more awaited Mark in the upcoming days than he ever would have realized - so much more.


	2. A Flurry of Pillows, Curse Words, and Complaints

Bursting into their hotel room, the foursome looked around, absorbing their surroundings like a pack of four sponges. Mark grimaced as he saw that everyone else had already picked a bed, as their bags were on them, guarding them like some sort of dog - two beds were off in a separate room that was adjoined to the main part, where two other beds were located. It dawned on him that he was the only one who actually took his luggage with him to PAX, and that everyone but him came here to drop their bags off before heading to the convention - and, to top it all off, all three men were now grinning at him, as if they knew exactly what he was thinking.

Mark raised an eyebrow. "I can't tell whether you're all grinning at me from the fact that I've been forced into a shitty bed, or from that I was stupid enough to take my bag with me to PAX Prime in my car." 

He walked further into the room and noticed that those two beds were occupied by Bob's black bag and Wade's slightly-camp-and-not-at-all-manly bag, which left the adjoining room with a spare bed and... Jack's bed. Mark narrowed his eyes as he turned his back on the three men and walked into his and Jack's room, which, sure enough, had a spare bed. With a grunt he flung his bag onto the bed with tremendous force from his upper arms, and found slight satisfaction in the creaking sound the bed made in protest.

"Jesus, Mark. Only thirty seconds in and already you're wrecking the place!" Bob stated from the doorway.

Mark plonked down on his bed and grinned at him. "Just testing the bed, that's all. Who knows what you three could have done to my bed when I wasn't here."

"No need to be so _paranoid_ , Mark!" Wade's voice was raised as Mark assumed he was sat on his bed in the other room. Mark wasn't having any of it.

"Shut up, Wade!"

Mark's P.O.V.  
I smiled as I heard the chuckles from the men harmoniously come together. Inviting everyone here seemed like a pretty good idea so far, and I was just generally glad to be here with my friends, yet my mind kept on wandering back to the world of YouTube, and what my subscribers might think of me for uploading vlogs for the next few days until myself and the terrible trio had a chance to play any other games. I'm sure they wouldn't mind; they'd been so supportive of me ever since I started my first and then my current channel, and I can't thank them enough for that. But for now I have to enjoy this little break I have with the guys.  
Bob had removed himself from the doorway and in his place was Jack, leaning against the door frame and looking at me with an expression like he was trying to suppress laughter.

"What's so funny, huh, Jackaboy? You wanna go?" I questioned in my patronizing and whiny voice, to which Jack sent a look of pure sarcasm my way but with a musical laugh to go along with it.

"You're a piece of work, you know that?" Jack chuckled. "No, but maybe later. In the meantime, I'm wondering why the hell you're starin' at the wall with a smile on your face."

"Maybe I'm wall-sexual," I stated playfully, a permanent grin plastered onto my face. I was rarely down when Jack was around. "And maybe I've just taken what you've said very offensively, so you should apologize."

"Oh dear, Mark. I'm so sorry. D'ya want a Septic Eye Sam to cheer you up?" To which the Irishman strode over to his luminous green suitcase and pulled out his Sam plushie that one of his fans had made for him. I remember the first time he told me about it - he was so happy when it came that he took it upon himself to message me at 1 AM in the morning, which in Ireland was apparently 9 AM, and that was his excuse. I snapped out of it when he threw it at me and it hit me in the face.

I sat there with my eyes tightly closed, my face scrunched up. My voice became low and dangerous, although not seriously so. "Sean McLoughlin," a rush I didn't expect nor want at this particular time ran through me like an electric shock. Is this what I get for saying his name? "Answer this question very carefully. Did you, or did you not just throw your septic eye at my face?"

Jack was laughing to the point of nearly crying. In between his laughter and his intakes of oxygen, he replied: "Yes I did, Mr. Iplier. What are you going 'ta do about it?"

I could almost hear the smirk in his voice. I opened my eyes suddenly to see him sat on his bed, to which I responded by pushing myself up off my bed with too much force, way too much force, and I tripped and fell over, smacking my face into Jack's bed.

_'Thank God it wasn't his crotch,'_ I thought, to which I could feel my face begin to blush furiously. I pushed my face even further into Jack's bed to hide my embarrassment.

"Woah! _Shit, dude_ \- are you okay?!" Genuine worry seemed to present itself in Jack's voice, which only made me blush harder. I could feel two other pairs of eyes on me beside Jack's, and that's when I realized I 'dun goofed'.

Laughter erupted from my right, which was where the doorway was located. I could hear Bob's hyena-like laugh echo through the room, along with Wade's more goofy laugh; Bob's laugh always had a tendency to make me laugh even more, so I started to chuckle from where my face was pushed into the cool fabric, rocking the bed slightly. That's when I could hear the more distinctive laugh of Jack's start up to my left, until our hotel room was nothing but a chorus of laughter. I removed my face from the blanket, feeling eternally grateful that the cold fabric had cooled down my blushing face, and wiped a few tears from my eyes before I exploded with excuses.

"Well, I _obviously_ meant to do that, and if you don't believe me you must be stupid or need to get your eyes tested because I was trying to be funny _on purpose_ ," More laughter. " _What?!_ It's true!"

"Send me a postcard next time, okay Mark," Jack snickered before I reached for a pillow and bashed his stupid grin in with it. "Oh, you are _so_ going to pay for that!"

I dropped the pillow I picked up from Jack's bed in order to make it a fair fight, and I retrieved the one from my bed instead. Bob and Wade stood in the doorway with their own pillows and a glint of mischief in their eyes, which, to me, sealed the challenge.

I puffed out my chest to make myself look a little taller. "Alright, last one standing wins."

I grinned as each of us became a flurry of pillows, curse words, and complaints.

* * *


	3. A Close Call

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...And here's where the real fluff begins! Tell me if I did good, or if I did horrendously bad... it would be appreciated!  
>  Enjoy, comrades!

Taking multiple sharp intakes of breath, Mark lay sprawled out on the limited space that was his single bed, his body rigid yet exhausted from the giant pillow fight he'd had about half an hour ago. Being with the guys allowed him to be more himself, more _immature_ , like he was a little kid stuck in a 26-year-old body who knew exactly how to have fun. Plus, he figured the fight was good exercise for his upper arms, and since his gym was nowhere near here, it seemed like a good idea overall.  
Of course, Wade was the first one to be taken down, primarily because everyone went for him first.

\----+----

"There's always a runt of the pack that goes down first, Wade," Mark had said as himself, Bob, and Jack had slowly pushed him into a corner, all while Wade glanced between the three men's faces with a desperate look in his eyes and a nervous smile on his lips. "And naturally, that runt is you."

Mark didn't know exactly why Bob was the next target, but himself and Jack found each other locked in a sort of partners-in-crime situation; Bob was a tough cookie, considering he was taller and larger than anyone in the room, and hitting him with pillows was like hitting a steel bar with feathers. It took Mark to distract him and Jack to jump on Bob's back that made the Goliath finally topple to the floor, to which the David (Jack, although not as small and weedy as David was in the story) let out a ' _Yeaaaaaaah!_ ' in victory.  
What happened next was probably the most exhilarating rush Mark had had for a long time. Jack had rose off of Bob's flattened body, pillow draped over his shoulder, exposing the flesh on his upper arms and the defined muscles beneath them. He was smirking at Mark, but there was something about the way his eyes looked, a spark of determination, of wanting to win - of _needing_ to win - that took all of the willpower Mark had to not slam him against the wall and connect his lips with his own. He moved towards Mark, as silent as a moth, until Mark was backed into the dead-end that was their room.

Mark's P.O.V.  
I remember my heart racing as my eyes were locked with Jack's sapphires, watching his every move like my life depended on it. I don't know why I suddenly felt so determined to win - to gain a sense of superiority, I guess - but I wanted Jack to know deep down on some subconscious, emotional level, that I could push back my feelings for him when needed in order to take victory for my own. That is, until my back hit the wall and I realized that I was trapped - it was either fight or lose.  
Jack moved towards me confidently; he stopped eventually because he was heart-achingly close, and his eyes dislodged themselves from mine to look down at... my pillow, that I was holding in front of my chest defensively. Lightning fast, he grabbed my pillow and yanked it from my grasp, sending it flying backwards until it hit the wall with a _thud_. It was only then when I followed its flight-path that I realized that Jack had closed the door behind us, and we were almost in complete darkness due to the lack of light.  
My heart was hammering so hard in my chest that I was pretty sure that either a) I was going to pass out or b) Jack could clearly hear it, but all the bastard did was move his mouth to my ear and whisper:

"You know, Mark, you really shouldn't let your guard down..." his lips made physical contact with my ear as they brushed down the left side of my jawline. I shivered in anticipation, my breath quickening, my hands shaking down by my sides like some kind of idiot. _Was he... Was he...?_

And then he pulled away and hit me in the face with his pillow.

The lights flickered on and Wade and Bob were stood at the doorway expectantly. I looked at Jack incredulously - it was supposed to come out as a death glare, but I was still recovering from the rather intimate contact the Irishman had made with me beforehand, not to mention the smack around the face with the pillow. Jack smiled at me - it was mainly sarcastic, but there was something else in there, something I couldn't quite make out in those azure eyes of his...

' _No way... is that... a glint of sadness?_ '

Jack raised his voice, his smile widened into a grin. "Alright laddies, _I_ won, so you'd better bow down because the king of the pillow fights is here! Not much different from a bar fight now that I think about it, so it's only natural that the Irishman would win, don't 'ya think?"

Bob rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, there's plenty more days to go, Jack - don't get too cocky, and I'd say that was a dick move, jumping on me like that."

I noticed that Wade was staring at me, and I was about to say something before he cut me off- "No way, did Markiplier _lose_?!"

"SHUT UP WADE!!" I bellowed at him, finally managing to recover from my brief period of silence. Everyone chuckled.

I saw Bob glance around. "To be honest, I think it's time we all slept. I don't know if any of you have noticed, but it's 11PM and I'm very surprised we don't have anyone knocking on our door complaining about the noise. I reckon we should do them a favor and quieten down."

And with that, Wade and Bob left the room. I collapsed on my bed, stretching myself out so I took up as much of the bed as possible. I could still feel Jack's stupid smirk hanging in the air, and my heart was still beating relatively fast with the thought of what happened - if only I turned my head to the side so I could have felt those lips on mine-

"So - what do I get for beating 'ya in a _fight_ of all things, Mr. Muscle?"

I raised my head so I could fire a glare Jack's way. "You heard Bob, you devilish Irishman you - there's plenty more days to go yet."

Jack raised an eyebrow and laughed. "I still vote that second-place should offer first-place some kind of award."

My eyes raised to meet Jack's glistening sapphires once more, and an idea came to my head: before I even knew, I was speaking it. "You could ask me to kiss you."

' _You fucked up, Mark. You fucked up._ '

However, the smile still refused to budge from the Irishman's face, and a knowing glint appeared in his eye. "I think you've had enough of that for one day, Mark." And he winked.

I pushed my face into my own bed to hide the ridiculous heat I could feel rising to my cheeks, and I wondered if he knew.

I also wondered if he was going to be an asshole about it and make me feel uncomfortable for the whole two weeks because, quite frankly, I won't be able to control myself.


	4. Under-the-Table Antics

Mark's P.O.V.  
The next few days went by with a blur, although the cocktail of different emotions I felt towards Jack had been growing in both intensity and frequency. For example, yesterday I caught him bent over in a rather lewd position, trying to reach for something that had fallen behind his bed. I had to walk away with my jaw clenched and my body rigid from the effort of trying to not just throw him on the bed right then and there, to which Wade had sent me multiple concerned looks and asked if I had the shits. The conversation that followed was increasingly awkward.  
And now, here I am - sat in a café in Seattle with Bob pressed up against my right-hand side in these way-too-small booths, while an overly polite waitress takes our orders.

"Uh... yeah. I'll have a steak in barbecue sauce, thanks. This pink-haired idiot on my right would like the beef burger, the lunatic across from me would just like a plate of pancakes and the green-haired Irish guy would like the bacon deluxe," Bob explained to the waitress, his insulting sarcasm firing bullets at each of us. "Thank you."

"Coming right up, darlin'." The waitress sent a dazzling white smile Bob's way and strutted off, shaking her hips as she went.

"And that, my friends, is what you call a _broad_ ," Wade commented and chuckled as he did so, earning a few smiles from each of us. "Not to be rude to women, of course."

"Wade, just shut up - you're not funny," I retorted, taking a sip of black coffee. It tasted extremely bitter, just like how I was feeling today. "And Bob, you really didn't need to order for each of us - we all have voices, you know."

Bob sent me a stern look. "Alright, Mr. Grumpy. Calm down, or I'll send you for a time-out in the naughty corner over there with Mr. Creepy-eyes." He nodded over to the corner on the far-right hand side of the room to a man who was sat on his own, his eyes drifting frantically everywhere, as if he'd either had too much caffeine or as if he was desperately searching for someone.

"Weird." Was the only reply I could manage.

The only reason I was exceedingly 'grumpy' today, as Bob would put it, was because I hadn't been sleeping very well. The fact that someone was in the same bedroom as me wasn't the problem, the problem was that it was _Jack_ who was with me. He was usually the one to fall asleep first, but I found myself mesmerized by the way he slept; his face went from sarcastic to innocent, his messed-up green hair falling over his azure eyes, his breathing relaxed and even...  
And, of course, all of these elements combined together just reminded me of what I could do when Jack was sleeping, what I could _see_ under those covers if I just so much as lifted them up-

I snapped out of my trance as I realized that I had been staring at Jack this whole time, and he had been staring back at me. I could hear Wade and Bob talking to my right, and I was surprised they hadn't noticed this little staring competition Jack and myself had taken up. I could feel myself beginning to melt into those sapphires of his, all while my temperature was raising and my heartbeat was quickening. How did he _do this_ to me?  
He had a weird glint in his eye, as if he knew what I was thinking, and suddenly I felt his feet wrap around my ankles, to which my eyes widened in surprise. He must have found this amusing, because he smiled a knowing smile and then looked away. I raised an eyebrow at him before I also looked away, biting my lip to try and prevent this blush I had acquired from spreading any further.  
I could still feel Jack's feet embracing mine under the table, and one of his feet had decided to rub my ankles affectionately. I swallowed as I tried to control my breathing.

"So, Mark - have you thought about what else we could do this week?"

I turned to Wade who was sat next to Jack, and out of the corner of my eye I could see him staring at me again. The bastard.

"Not _really_ , no... there's plenty to do in Seattle, but I haven't found anything so far that would interest all four of us-"

I froze. Jack had stopped his embrace of my ankles and he had worked his way upwards - I could _feel_ his foot pressing against my lower thigh. What the _hell_ was he thinking?! I swallowed again.

"-I'll keep looking, Wade. In the meantime, is there anything any of us would like to do specifically?" I looked around the table and I took this opportunity to glare at Jack, who was obviously trying to suppress laughter by the look on his face. "Jack, maybe you want to do something in particular?"

Before I realized that this statement sounded like a vague hint towards an activity I'd only imagined in my filthy mind, I bit my tongue to stop myself from saying anything else, and also because Jack's foot had inched up so that it was rubbing against my inner thigh. I struggled to not make a noise.

"Well, nothin' really - I'm cool to do whatever you guys want to do." The Irishman replied, still smirking at me.

"No, no - come on Jack, you haven't been in America all that long, so there has to be something on your mind." Bob insisted, and as a response to that, Jack removed his foot.

' _Thank God... God, thank God!_ ' I thought to myself, almost exhaling a sigh of relief. ' _Thank you Bob, I'll be nicer to you from now on._ '

Jack looked thoughtful. "Well, I've always wanted to visit California," he grinned. "Although that's too far out of the way, so I understand if we can't go."

Bob looked at me. "It's still early. It's only 11 - if you wanted we could travel down there now. We could hitch up a hotel on the way, and we could bring our stuff down there in Mark's car. Who fancies a bit of a road trip?"

I looked incredulously at Bob. " _California_? It took me seventeen hours to get here from Los Angeles, how the hell are we going to-"

"We'll find a way, Mark. Come on, it'll be fun. We'll head to San Francisco or someplace not so far as L.A., though, otherwise we'll all be falling asleep on the way there. We don't need a car crash, but the way you're acting Mark, I think you want one."

I hesitated, but before I had a chance to say anything else, Wade and Jack agreed with Bob, the traitors. We received our food and ate is as quickly as we could, before leaving the café and heading back to our hotel. Jack whistled merrily, as if he'd won some sort of victory. I sent him a look, but the smirk on his face only made me smile back at him like an idiot.

A road trip it was. I hadn't forgiven Jack for the foot situation back at the café, though, and I wasn't sure how to take it either - yes, he had a girlfriend, but that didn't seem to justify his recent behavior. Maybe he felt the same way...?  
Shaking my head to myself, I loaded my luggage in the back of my car with everyone else's. Jack sat in the passenger seat, despite the warning looks I gave him not to, and Wade and Bob sat in the back.

"Alright, everyone ready?" I announced more than asked, turning up the radio. I received enthusiastic murmurs from the back, drowned out by Jack's "Hell _yeah_! Let's do this!" in the front. I smiled to myself as I pulled out of the parking lot and hit the road, noticing Jack staring at me from my right.

This was going to be a long trip down to San Francisco.


	5. Pink Hair

Mark's POV  
The fatigue from the past few days had finally decided to start catching up with me, and with the worst timing, too; driving down to California from Washington was the worst idea any of us had had so far this week, and of course _Jack_ had to be the one to suggest it. The tiredness wasn't even the worst thing, either - it was the fact that Jack had decided to take advantage of my tiredness by staring at me constantly non-stop since we fucking _left_ Seattle.

I forced my heavy head from the locked position of staring at the road in front of me and I turned to him, casting a brief glare his way. "I know I'm just way too awesome for you to take your eyes off me, Jack, but I don't think it would kill you to stop staring at me." I turned my attention back towards the road, but I smiled to myself as I noticed out of the corner of my eye that this comment surprised the Irishman.

"Well yeah, you know - you're obviously just too dashingly handsome for me to-" Jack cut off abruptly as we heard two synchronized snores from the back. He grinned. "Anyway, looks like those two dropped off rather quickly. It's just you and me, bud," he elbowed me in the side, to which I rolled my eyes. "Seriously though, Mark - what's up? You've been acting kinda off lately."

I tensed. From the start I was pretty sure that Jack had been onto me about this whole 'unrequited crush on Jack' subject, especially from the brief moment we had alone during the pillow fight. I swallowed as I felt the heat rise to my cheeks just from the memory of it; it just _surprised_ me that Jack acted the way that he did, and now he was _asking_ about it like he didn't know?

"I've had a lot on my mind lately, I guess you could say. With not being able to update the channel how I usually do and stuff, and I haven't been sleeping very well," I admitted, keeping the main reason in the dark. I could see Jack looking at me sympathetically.

"I know that feel, dude. I've been feelin' kinda off lately. I wonder if our subscribers actually know just how stressful it is to keep up with a channel, especially when we're out and about," he paused. "But at least we've got each other."

I felt my heart leap in my chest as Jack rested his hand on mine, which was rested on the gear stick. His hand was comfortingly warm, compared to my numb and cold one which had been stuck in the same position for a good four hours. Looking over at him, I smiled slightly, and he smiled back. There was another emotion in those blue eyes that I couldn't quite place, and when I was trying to figure it out he looked away and faced the front. I turned back to the road as he drew his hand away.

Around 5PM it became dark, and my nausea from my tiredness was getting increasingly worse. I watched the lights pass us by on the highway, trying my best to not picture them as stars or anything else that could be linked to sleep, for I would be sure to drop off. Jack was still awake, I was sure - he was one of those people whose energy was constantly buzzing with excitement when they were awake, and I could sense Jack was bored, but not tired.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think you could take over for me? I'm having a hard time holding it together over here."

I saw a look of panic wash over the Irishman's face. "I... uh... I'm not sure about that, Mark - remember that we drive on the other side of the road in Ireland."

"I could drive, Mark!" a voice sounded from the back that made me jump about twenty feet off my seat.

"Jesus _Christ_ , Wade! Firstly, don't distract the driver - secondly, how long have you even been awake for? I forgot you two were even here! Thirdly, no way, I'm not letting you of all people drive my damn car." There was silence, and I could feel Jack grinning beside me. "Bob?"

A loud yawn reverberated throughout the car, followed by a whimper which could only mean that Bob was stretching. "Yeah, sure. But hey - can we stop off at a service station first? I could do with something to eat, and a coffee."

"Sure we can, but I don't know when the next one will be. Keep your eyes peeled, fellas - we're on a quest to find a place to eat." An idea came through my head. "Should we find a motel? That way we could all recharge our batteries. It's dark, and we still have a long way to go."

"Good idea," Bob replied. "Wade? Jack? What do you guys think?"

"I think that sounds good. Good job, Mark." came Wade's reply.

"Yeah, don't suck up to me, Wade." I retorted, grinning to him in the rear-view mirror.

Jack laughed. "I think that's a _great _idea - so you're calling it a quest now, are ya, Mark? Soon you'll be telling us that the princess is in another castle!"__

__I perked up a little - Jack's energy was contagious. "Yeah, it's a quest - so _what_? We've got the three musketeers here in this car... and Wade, of course."_ _

__"Hey!" Wade complained from the back._ _

__Jack shook his head. "The three musketeers... plus Wade, eh? We could start a band with that!"_ _

__It took us about an hour to find a place to eat - we agreed that we'd stop at the nearest food place first to get ourselves caffeinated and fed before we hit the road with Bob driving to find us the nearest motel. We found a Burger King and I was pretty sure that Jack had planned to sit next to me this time, for having him within touching distance was a living hell for me. He made it easy, though - I think he felt sorry for me because of how tired I was. With coffee and fast food in our systems we set off again, with Bob at the wheel, Wade in the passenger seat, and me and Jack in the back. I was responsible for this - even though I'd known Wade for a lot longer than Jack, he did have a tendency to irritate me beyond all comprehension, so I told Bob for Wade's benefit that he should sit in the front with him.  
The radio was droning on in the background, and I felt so much better with the caffeine sloshing around in my system and with the lack of direct concentration on the road. I sighed in content as I pressed myself further back into my seat, my head facing the car roof, my arms crossed in front of me._ _

__"Feelin' better, Mark?"_ _

__I turned to face the Irishman, pushing my glasses a little further up my nose in reaction to the darkness of the back seats. I could make out his face and eyes easily enough, but as our route had taken us on more country roads, the number of sources of light had grown less and less. I nodded._ _

__"Yes, a lot better. Coffee really works for me, although I've heard that it doesn't work as well on some people."_ _

__"Yeah, I know what you mean. It doesn't really work for me, to be honest - any type of alcohol does it for me, I mean, I'm Irish for Christ's sake - I practically _bleed_ alcohol."_ _

__I smiled wryly. "Yeah, it's interesting to know that you could get Dracula unintentionally drunk for Halloween when he sucks on your blood." I uncrossed my arms and held them limply by my sides. "Guys, we should do something for Halloween, you know - it's two days away from now, so we've got plenty of time to think of something."_ _

__"We could go to a haunted house or something like that - a ghost walk, maybe?" Wade chirped._ _

__I raised an eyebrow. "Huh, you know Wade, that's not a bad idea - I've always wanted to go on a ghost walk, it would be fun."_ _

__"Ha! Mark, you'd end up blubbering like a bubble-blowing baby, knowing you," Bob commented. "It's only for _real_ men to handle."_ _

__"What the hell are you talking about, Bob? I'm more _manly_ than any of you - have you _met_ Wilford Warfstache?"_ _

__"Oh, yeah - the camp guy with the pink mustache, I remember meeting him once."_ _

__"Screw you, Bob. Do not, ever, insult the Warfstache. He'll find you in your sleep and terrorize you."_ _

__"Thanks for the tip, Mark - cause, you know, I'm very scared of pink facial hair."_ _

__I leaned forward in my seat so that Bob could see my face out of the corner of his eye. "How about my pink hair, huh Bob? You scared of this?" I shook my head so that my hair was rocking backwards and forwards on it's own, followed by Bob's hysterical laughter and everyone else laughing because of it. I sat back in my seat._ _

__The rest of the journey was relatively quiet. We found a place to sleep around 10, and we all got our separate rooms. I got into the shower and then relaxed into bed, very quickly dozing off at about 11._ _

__Feeling the coolness of the sheets as I slid into them, I sighed and let out one last mumble to myself: "If they wake me up any earlier than 10, I'll feed their balls to an animatronic fox."_ _


End file.
